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Battling Eels confident of Manly shock

Ian McCullough

They may have little chance of making the NRL finals but Tim Mannah says cellar-dwelling Parramatta can cause an upset and beat Manly at Brookvale on Monday.

After a brilliant start to the season Manly's form has hit the buffers in recent weeks with the Sea Eagles winning just one of their last six matches.

The Eels run of results has also been wretched with Ricky Stuart's side going into the game on the back of five successive defeats and without talismanic fullback Jarryd Hayne whose return from a hamstring injury has been put on hold for another week.

Mannah said last week's bye came at a good time for his side and despite having yet to record a victory on their travels this year, the Eels co-captain said there's a feeling they can break their duck against their bitter rivals.

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"It's been great this week having the bye, we all needed some freshening up mentally and we've come back recharged in training this week," Mannah said.

"Jake Mullaney is back for Jarryd at fullback and he has been great for us. When he's played he's taken the chance with both hands and hopefully he can do that again on Monday night.

"It doesn't matter where you play in the NRL it is always going to be hard so going to Brookvale will be difficult especially as they are desperate for the win - but this is a game we have to win and we feel confident we can."

Stuart admitted he was tempted to play Hayne but he risked further damage to his troublesome hamstring ahead of the State of Origin decider on July 17 if the NSW star came back too soon on the heavy pitch at Brookvale.

"The best preparation for Origin is that he plays for us, but the (most important) is Jarryd Hayne, his physical wellbeing," Stuart told the Eels' official website.

"We don't want to put him at any risk as to aggravating it or having ongoing issues with it."

Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey admitted he's wary of the Eels who possess a decent recent record against his side having won three of the last six meetings.

"We seem to struggle a bit with Parramatta," Toovey said.

"We're well aware of what they're capable of, they've got some great individual players.

"Whilst collectively they're probably not playing that well in the sense of the competition ladder they've played some great football this year, they've been unlucky a few times and they are a very dangerous team."